Tesla found partly responsible for a deadly disaster in 2019

Florida jury found Tesla partially responsible for a 2019 crash that includes the self -control function of the company’s autopilot, The Washington Post Reports. As a result, the company will have to pay compensatory damage of $ 43 million and even more for criminal damage.

Autopilot is available pre -installed on Tesla cars and handles things like finding a collision and emergency braking. Tesla mostly avoids taking responsibility for crashes involving cars with autopilot Activated, but the case in Florida played differently. In the end, the jury decided that self -driving technology enabled the driver George McGy to take his eyes off the road and hit a couple, Nael Benavides Leon and Dylan Angulo, eventually killing one and severely wounded the other.

During the case, Tesla’s lawyers claim that McGi’s decision to take his eyes off the way to reach out to his phone is the reason for the crash and that the autopilot should not be considered. The plaintiffs, Angulo and the family of Benevides Leon, claim that the way Tesla and Elon Musk spoke of the characteristic, ultimately creates the illusion that the autopilot is more convenient than it really is. « My concept was that it would help me if I had a failure … or I have to make a mistake, » McGi said in the podium. « And in this case, I have the feeling that I have failed me. » Eventually the jury appointed two -thirds of McGee’s responsibility and a third of Tesla, according to NBC NewsS

When they were reached for comment, Tesla said he would appeal the decision and give the following statement:

Today’s sentence is wrong and works only to return car safety and endanger Tesla’s efforts to develop and apply life -saving technologies. We plan to appeal to the essential mistakes of the law and the irregularities in the test. Although this court hearing found that the driver was extremely responsible for this tragic incident in 2019, the evidence always showed that this driver was only guilty because he accelerated, with his foot to the accelerator – who canceled the autopilot – while he was digging for his dropped phone without his eyes. To make it clear, none of a car in 2019 and none today would prevent this catastrophe. This has never been an autopilot; It was a fabrication invented by the plaintiffs’ lawyers, blaming the car when the driver – from day one – admitted and accepted responsibility.

In a national investigation by the AutoPilot highway safety administration of 2024, the crashes were accused of abuse the Tesla system driver, not the system itself. NHTSA also found that the autopilot is too permitting and « does not adequately guarantee that drivers keep their attention on the task of driving, » which is posing for the Florida crash in 2019.

While Autopilot is just one component of the larger collection of features for driving Tesla self-driving, selling the idea that the company’s cars can safely drive alone is a key part of its future. Elon Musk claims that complete self-government (FSD), the paid upgrade of Autopilot, is « safer than human driving. » The Tesla Robotaxi service relies on the fact that the FSD can function without or minimal supervision, something that has given mixed results in the first few days in which the service is available.

Update, August 1, 18:05 et: This story was updated after publication to include Tesla’s statement.